In the process of starting up new businesses — production of EVs, EV batteries, renewable energy, semiconductor chips, Chairman N Chandrasekaran tells Nikkei Asia

The Tata group has lined up an investment of $90 billion over the next five years across its existing and new businesses, including semiconductor manufacturing and electric vehicles. In an interview with Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on Thursday, Tata Sons’ Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said the group is in the process of starting up new businesses such as the manufacture of EVs and EV batteries, production of renewable energy.

Chandra has been spearheading Tata group’s transformation since he took over as its Chairman in 2017. Recently, the group launched a super app called Tata Neu in a bid to provide a single platform for consumers to buy various Tata products. In the auto segment, Chandra has guided Tata Motors to unveil its first pure electric car concept Avinya, with an eye on the global market. Aviation is the other big area where the Tatas are investing heavily after acquiring Air India.

In February, Chandra was reappointed by Tata Sons to continue as the Chairman for the second term of five years following Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata expressing satisfaction with the progress and performance of the diversified conglomerate.

Going forward, Chandrasekaran told Nikkei that the Tata group will “look into the possibility of eventually launching an upstream chip fabrication platform.”

India has been trying to attract investments into the semiconductor manufacturing segment for several years as it is a critical component in the electronics hardware ecosystem. However, so far there have not been any real investments into this area. This could change if the Tatas were to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in the country